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News

What happens when Wisconsin emergency responders can’t respond?

By Mark Lisheron

Increasingly short-handed emergency medical personnel were unable to respond to 10 different 911 calls in Wisconsin over a recent 12-month period, according to the state’s Emergency Medical Services directors.


Fire and EMS officials say that’s just the tip of the iceberg.


More than four in 10 of the more than 200 directors who responded to a survey by the state Office of Rural Health reported one or more days in the past 12 months when a fully-staffed ambulance crew — full staffing, by law, is seven full-time people in typical 24-hour shifts — couldn’t be mustered. More than six in 10 directors of volunteer departments reported gaps in the availability of their ambulances because of staff shortages.


The survey is causing a stir, according to its author, James Small. But the facts are nothing new to those who’ve lived with them day-to-day.


Volunteers are still the backbone of emergency response in this state and many communities have struggled for years to find enough of them.

Read More

Viewpoint

DPI ‘equity’ speakers talk revolution; parents just want their kids to be able to read

By Patrick McIlheran

It’s plain that many of the prominent radicals in an ongoing Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction speaker series about racial “equity” have a problem less with individuals than with the whole system.


Makes you wonder why they so oppose children escaping that system.


The series of day-long webinars, four per school year, is an initiative of the DPI, the regulator of every Wisconsin school. The agency says it doesn’t necessarily endorse everything said by every one of the academics it invites, but since racial equity is the first quality it mentions in its mission statement, one can see why 2,500 people signed up last school year to hear what was said under the sponsorship of the agency that controls Wisconsin teachers’ licenses.


One clear theme is the installing of a new definition of racism, one most Americans do not agree with, one that says racism isn’t an injustice committed by an individual who treats some people worse on account of their skin but, rather, the inescapable structure of American society.


This “structural racism” idea — “Racism Without Racists,” to quote the title of a book by one of the series’ regular speakers — leads to some remarkable conclusions.

Read McIlheran’s Viewpoint

Viewpoint

The Journal Sentinel gets its comeuppance

By Mike Nichols

A recent one-sided smear by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of the parental rights group Moms for Liberty was so egregious that even the Wall Street Journal took notice.


Tunku Varadarajan, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, noted in a recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal that the first words in the Journal Sentinel’s August story were, “Moms for Liberty, a group designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an extremist antigovernment organization…”


The Journal Sentinel’s odd reliance on the SPLC and its insulting bias against Moms for Liberty went on and on from there.


A truly objective news story would have at least noted that much of America has another perspective of both the SPLC and Moms for Liberty.


The SPLC, much of America already knows, is often described as a civil-rights group, “even though in recent decades it has shifted its focus to smearing conservative organizations as hate groups,” writes Varadarajan.

Read Nichols’ Viewpoint

Badger on Air

Visiting Fellow Jeremiah Mosteller joins Meg Ellefson to discuss his findings on the criminal enforcement of marijuana laws in Wisconsin

September 6, The Meg Ellefson Show

Listen Now

Read the Report: Criminal Enforcement of Marijuana Laws Uncommon in Many Wisconsin Counties

Badger on the Road

Thankfully, our research is more impressive than our photography.


Last week, Badger Institute staff and contributors met in Chicago for the annual meeting of the State Policy Network (SPN), an organization that propels the freedom movement forward through its member think tanks. The Badger Institute’s Mandate for Madison was a top-three finalist for SPN’s prestigious Bob Williams Award for Outstanding Policy Achievement — in the category of “Most Influential Research.”


Our sincere thanks to all who love freedom, prosperity and Wisconsin as much as we do. Your ongoing support and generosity allow us to produce the most influential and impactful policy research in the Badger State.

At a Glance

According to research by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, full-time staff in state schools is increasing — even as the staff share of teachers is decreasing.


The findings are indicative of bureaucratic bloat that spends taxpayer dollars on administrative functions rather than the direct instruction of children.

Full Time Equivalent Staff Count

Teaching Staff as a Percentage of FTEs

Badger Events

Join us Thursday, October 12 (formerly October 3) for the Badger Institute Annual Dinner. Rep. Mike Gallagher will deliver keynote remarks on democracy, freedom and the threat of the Chinese Communist Party.


  • Sharon Lynn Wilson Center for the Arts | Brookfield, WI


  • 5:00 p.m. VIP cocktail reception with buffet-style dinner


  • 5:30 p.m. general admission cocktail reception with buffet-style dinner


  • 6:30 p.m. presentation and keynote remarks


Sponsorship opportunities are available, along with general registration and VIP meet-and-greet tickets.

RSVP Today

Weekly Survey: What percentage of state fire departments rely primarily or in part on volunteer help?

Answer below!
24%
52%
76%
93%

Previous Poll Results:

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